Just picked up the free press and I have to say, this place is amazing looking. I can't wait to actually see this done in person, I feel like I'm going to have to make that a place to be on my weekends once this place is there and not just on paper.

Meh, add it to the list of all the other things that were supposed to transform Detroit: Comerica Park, Ford Field, The SuperBowl, the All Star Game, the Casinos, the Cobo Expansion. I'll believe it when I see it. There was supposed to be a big entertainment and housing expansion with Comerica and Ford Field, too.

Not getting all the affection for Joe Louis Arena. That place was a dump even before it opened. It was totally thrown together without much thought.

Thankfully Holland will have no input in building the arena or it would come out looking like a pizza hut.

Im not thrilled about this because 2 years ago i was married on the ice in Joe Louis. Its going to be sad if they tear it down and we cant go back to where we were married.

Pics or it never happened

"If I can be totally honest, it's not a lot of guys you get impressed by. Actually, it's no one else but him. From the bench, to see what move he makes -- you're like, 'I wish I could do that.' Sometimes you sit on the bench and just think, 'wow,' and you look over to the other bench and they sit there and shake their heads, too. He has great, great skills. I'm probably not going to play with another player who has the kind of skills he has." Mikael Samuelsson on Pavel Datsyuk

It's the place where our team plays and has played for a long time. I've never been, but it holds sentimental value and then some for me, simply by virtue of its association with the Wings and my devotion to them.

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

It's the place where our team plays and has played for a long time. I've never been, but it holds sentimental value and then some for me, simply by virtue of its association with the Wings and my devotion to them.

I have mixed feelings about this. Personally, I love the Joe. It has so much character, history and the sight lines (IMO) are great. Even in the upper deck it feels like you're on top of the action, and the standing room areas are superb.

While the idea of a new arena is also exciting, I can't help but feel it will be another generic, state of the art place where everything is overpriced and you have to bring binoculars to the game.

This^ but if they still let the upper bowl peeps go down to the glass and take pics, etc. then it won't be so bad.

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

Meh, add it to the list of all the other things that were supposed to transform Detroit: Comerica Park, Ford Field, The SuperBowl, the All Star Game, the Casinos, the Cobo Expansion. I'll believe it when I see it. There was supposed to be a big entertainment and housing expansion with Comerica and Ford Field, too.

Not getting all the affection for Joe Louis Arena. That place was a dump even before it opened. It was totally thrown together without much thought.

Deconstructed design: Most arenas are built as a big box with the playing surface and seating ringed by concourses, concession stands, team offices and restaurants. But the new arena will be “deconstructed” with the outer-ring functions moved into structures just set off or pulled away from the core inner playing surface and seats. They won’t be separate buildings, but linked by a first-ever interior streetscape.

Glass covered streetscape: The area between the seating bowl and the outer buildings will be covered by glass to create a “covered via,” or interior streetscape, filled with trees, retail, dining and other amenities. Bridges and walkways will connect the outer buildings to the seating bowl through this covered interior street.

Lighted roof design: The roof of the arena will be fashioned with the most modern programmable lighting so that different images can be produced for a given event. In the rendering provided by Olympia Development, the roof shows the Red Wings logo as it will on hockey nights. But the roof could be green for St. Patrick’s Day or something else for a concert by Kid Rock or Eminem, Ilitch said. He described the desired effect as “classy, not gaudy.”

Playing surface: The playing surface will be set about 32 feet below ground level to lower the profile of the building, producing a more human-scale environment in the district where most buildings will rise just two to four stories. That follows the practice at Comerica Park and Ford Field, where the playing surfaces were set below ground level.

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

In addition to a more-than-20,000-seatarena, plans call for new residential buildings and dozens of restaurants and retail, as well as a hotel, new parks and streetlights, and other remade infrastructure. Ilitch said the area will offer an intimate, festive air that he compared to European cities known for their street life.

I had heard as well that the arena was going to seat about 18,000, but the article states that it's going to be more than 20,000. I wonder who is correct.